"I liked that Karen was a complex woman, I always find that the most appealing thing in a script"
A long-time fan of playwright, David Hare, Billie Piper reveals how it feels to star in Collateral.
What it was about Karen Mars which initially attracted her?
"I liked that Karen was a complex woman, I always find that the most appealing thing in a script. She has obviously lived a difficult life and has been damaged by her past.
Karen lives to pursue this dead love and it is really tragicBillie Piper
"She has lived with addiction and a devotion to a man who didn’t love her and unsurprisingly, she isn’t a particularly nurturing mother. It is Karen who kick starts this entire story, she gets it all rolling and she is such a great character; a woman of many faces and beautifully written."
Billie on working with John Simm
"I have known John Simm since I was 16 and I have admired him as an actor since I first saw him in Human Traffic. He is one of those very rare, down to earth men who also happens to be an actor.
"My character and John’s share a volatile relationship in the drama, it’s sexy and aggressive, it is loveless but it is her passion. She lives to pursue this dead love and it is really tragic. John’s role is a brilliantly written part as well, he has this very important job as a politician but here we see him be vulnerable and make mistakes."
What was it like to film in London?
"I have a love affair with London I can’t ever shake. It always impressed me so much growing up and I have always felt so lucky to live and work here.
"There have been a lot of things recently that have made London feel more threatening than it has normally but I am behind it and I believe in the city. I am not going anywhere. There are lots of things about London that blow my mind, that I can never get over. I am from a small town and it looks totally different to London, so I was always shocked as a child how somewhere that was only 50 minutes down the motorway could be so different in culture, diversity and opportunity and how it could contain so many different worlds all coexisting.
"This show encapsulates all of that. It shows London in all of its ugly truths and, at times, it feels very underworld even though these are things that are happening on our streets all the time at the moment. The drama is a controversial, state of the nation piece and also a thriller which, if written well, are two things which coexist beautifully."
